I was peering through back issues of Emerging Infectious Diseases as one typically does (amiright? right?) and found a real gem of a letter. A French physician wrote of a special patient that had recently visited his practice, an 83-year old Parisian gentleman complaining of fatigue and weight loss. Upon clinical examination, he discovered the man had hyper-eosinophilia (high numbers of granulocytes, a type of white blood cells) indicating that something might be a bit off - either an allergic reaction or some sort of infection (1). A series of tests were run, including a stool sample, but nothing definitive was detected.
The parasite Strongyloides stercoralis, otherwise known as threadworm due to its filiform shape. What a cutie pie! Image: eHow. Click for source.
Until the man spoke of a trip to Vietnam many years ago. Something on the order of 75 - yes! seventy-five! - years ago. The physician realized that the patient may have something out of the ordinary and, quite possibly non-Frenchy, on his hands. Serologic testing then identified evidence of Strongyloides stercoralis infection and the larvae were subsequently found in a new stool sample. This man had been unknowingly harboring a S. stercoralis, or threadworm, infection for over 75 years.
